Auntie Anne's
Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzel Copycat Recipe
An ordinary bread dough put through an alkaline bath, buttered twice, and salted with coarse crystals. Thirty minutes…
Detailed copycat recipes for the fast food you actually order
The fast food you order, rebuilt for your own kitchen.
90 copycat recipes for the chains you actually buy from - Each with a complete method, explicit assumptions, cost calculations, scalable batches and measurements in cups or metric.
90Copycat recipes
35Chains covered
18,307Menu prices held
11Countries priced
AI-generated illustration of recipes covered on this site; it is not a photograph of a prepared spread.
What makes these recipes different from a search result
Scale it, in your units
Every recipe switches between 1×, 2×, 4× and 8× and between US cups and metric - Using real ingredient densities, not a flat 240 g a cup.
Costed against a real shop
Each recipe carries what the batch costs to make, priced on supermarket own-brand lines, against what the same thing costs on the menu.
Limits stated before you start
Each method identifies equipment constraints, likely failure modes and the places where a domestic kitchen cannot reproduce a commercial process.
Backed by the actual menus
15,730 menu items across 11 countries, so a recipe can show you what the item it copies really costs where you live.
The recipes worth making first
If you have never done this before, make a sauce. Ten minutes, about a pound of ingredients, and it changes every burger you cook for the next fortnight.
McDonald's
Big Mac Sauce Copycat Recipe
Eight minutes, one bowl, no cooking. The sweet pickle relish base that every 'secret sauce' recipe gets wrong, and th…
Burger King
Burger King Whopper Copycat Recipe
A flame-grilled quarter-pound patty, a serious quantity of mayonnaise, and more raw vegetable than any other chain bu…
Cinnabon
Cinnabon Classic Roll Copycat Recipe
An enriched dough, a filling that is a third cinnamon by volume, and a cream cheese frosting with a much higher chees…
Domino's Pizza
Domino's Garlic and Herb Dip Copycat Recipe
The most requested copycat dip in Britain. Four minutes, six ingredients, and two decisions that most versions get wrong.
Five Guys
Five Guys Cajun Fries Copycat Recipe
Skin-on potatoes, fried twice at two temperatures, tossed hot in Cajun seasoning. The oil is doing more of the flavou…
KFC
KFC 11 Herbs and Spices Seasoning Copycat Recipe
The blend itself, in proportions that actually work, with the two ingredients that carry it and the one nobody wants …
KFC
KFC Original Recipe Fried Chicken Copycat
Buttermilk brine, a double dredge with a rest, and controlled shallow frying. Honest about the one thing a home kitch…
Where the money actually is
Ranked by the gap between what a batch costs to make and what the same thing costs to buy. These are the five biggest on the site right now, computed from the cost tables rather than chosen.
| Recipe | Chain | Made at home | Bought | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cinnabon Classic Roll Copycat Recipe | Cinnabon | $3.20 | $40.41 | $37.21 |
| Five Guys Burger Copycat Recipe | Five Guys | $5.40 | $35.96 | $30.56 |
| Chili's Molten Chocolate Cake Copycat Recipe | Chili's | $1.90 | $27.96 | $26.06 |
| Wendy's Chili Copycat Recipe | Wendy's | $6.40 | $31.92 | $25.52 |
| Pizza Hut Pan Pizza Copycat Recipe | Pizza Hut | $3.20 | $27.98 | $24.78 |
Sauces and dips
The highest-leverage things on this site. A sauce carries most of what makes a chain item recognisable, and none of them need anything more than a bowl.
Burger King
Burger King Zesty Sauce Copycat Recipe
The onion ring dip. Horseradish, ketchup and mayonnaise, with a kick that arrives late. Five minutes and an hour in t…
Shake Shack
Shake Shack ShackSauce Copycat Recipe
The most argued-about burger sauce in the world. Five minutes, and the mustard choice is what separates it from every…
Wingstop
Wingstop Ranch Copycat Recipe
Buttermilk, mayonnaise and a proper quantity of dill, thicker than any bottled ranch. Five minutes and an overnight rest.
Chili's
Chili's Skillet Queso Copycat Recipe
Cheese, chilli and a little seasoned beef, served in a hot skillet so it stays molten. Twelve minutes, one pan.
Chili's
Chili's Honey Chipotle Sauce Copycat Recipe
Honey, hot sauce and adobo, simmered until it clings. Eight minutes and four ingredients that matter.
TGI Friday's
TGI Friday's Jack Daniel's Glaze Copycat Recipe
Pineapple juice, soy, brown sugar and a small amount of bourbon added at the end. Twenty-five minutes, mostly waiting.
The 35 chains we hold menus for
Each one has a page for what its food actually tastes of, the last prices we recorded from its menu, and the recipes worth making at home. Most menu items do not have a recipe here and never will - we write a page when there is something worth saying.
McDonald's
8 recipes
KFC
8 recipes
Burger King
3 recipes
Wendy's
4 recipes
Taco Bell
7 recipes
Subway
4 recipes
Starbucks
6 recipes
Nando's
6 recipes
Pizza Hut
2 recipes
Domino's Pizza
2 recipes
Five Guys
4 recipes
Shake Shack
2 recipes
Wingstop
4 recipes
Chili's
3 recipes
TGI Friday's
1 recipe
Krispy Kreme
1 recipe
Dunkin'
2 recipes
Cinnabon
1 recipe
Auntie Anne's
2 recipes
Papa John's
2 recipes
Pizza Express
1 recipe
Pret A Manger
1 recipe
Jollibee
2 recipes
Hardee's
2 recipes
Outback Steakhouse
2 recipes
Dairy Queen
1 recipe
Baskin-Robbins
1 recipe
Cold Stone Creamery
1 recipe
Sizzler
1 recipe
Swensen's
1 recipe
Costa Coffee
1 recipe
CoCo Ichibanya
1 recipe
The Pizza Company
1 recipe
Black Canyon Coffee
1 recipe
Coffee World
1 recipe
We re-read every menu we hold once a month and keep the reading, so a price on this site can be compared with the one before it rather than replaced by it. That record is the price tracker - 33 chains and counting.
How chain food actually works
Ten topic hubs on the things underneath the recipes - Why a smashed patty browns the way it does, why pan pizza is a frying recipe, and what a delivery app really adds to your bill.
Copycat method
How to Work Out What Is Actually in Restaurant Food
The method behind every recipe on this site - reading an ingredient list, identifying the process, and knowing which gaps a home kitchen can close.
Cost of eating out
What a Takeaway Habit Actually Costs, Measured Properly
Honest arithmetic on delivery fees, service charges and per-portion costs across the UK, US and Australia - and where home cooking wins by the widest margin.
Sauces & spice
The Sauces and Spice Blends That Do the Heavy Lifting
Why a handful of sauces define an entire chain, how emulsions hold and break, and the store-cupboard blends worth keeping in a jar.
Burgers
Everything That Happens Between the Mince and the Bun
Fat ratios, the smash window, flat-top versus flame, bun choice, and the assembly order that stops a burger falling apart.
Fried chicken
What Separates Restaurant Fried Chicken From the Kind That Goes Soggy
Brining, the double dredge, oil temperature management, the pressure-fryer question, and honest oven and air-fryer routes.
Doughs & bakes
The Doughs Behind Pan Pizza, Soft Pretzels and Every Chain Bun
Hydration, enrichment, cold fermentation, alkaline baths and the specific tricks behind each chain's signature bake.
Menus & prices
Reading a Chain Menu for What It Costs, Not What It Advertises
How chains price a menu, why the same burger costs three different amounts in three countries, and how to find the genuinely good value on a board.
Coffee & drinks
The Coffee-Shop Drinks Worth Making Yourself, and the Kit You Need
Syrups and sauces, cold foam, iced coffee that is not watery, and which drinks genuinely need an espresso machine.
Nutrition
What Is Actually in Chain Food, and What Changes When You Cook It
Where the calories, salt and sugar actually sit on a chain menu, and what genuinely changes when the same dish is made at home.
Kit & setup
The Short List of Equipment That Actually Changes the Result
What to buy, what not to bother with, which oils to fry in, and how to deep-fry safely in a domestic kitchen.
Put together for a reason
Hand-picked groups rather than filtered lists - A full takeaway night for four, the fifteen-minute shortlist, the things worth batching on a Sunday.
5 recipes
Start Here: Five Recipes for Your First Fortnight
Five recipes that between them teach every technique on this site, cost under £8 in total and take under two hours of actual work.
9 recipes
Sauces You Can Make in Ten Minutes
Nine cold sauces that need no cooking at all. Most take under ten minutes of work and cost about a pound a jar.
7 recipes
A Full Takeaway Night for Four
Burgers, chips, wings and a dip, plus something frozen for pudding. About £11 for four against roughly £55 delivered.
5 recipes
The Sunday Batch Cook - copycat recipes worth batching
Five recipes that freeze properly, cooked in one session, that fill a freezer drawer with about twenty meals for under £25.
6 recipes
The Coffee Shop at Home - copycat coffee recipes
Two syrups, a sauce and four drinks. The kit costs about £40 and pays for itself in twelve days.
5 recipes
Friday Night Fried Chicken
A full fried chicken dinner for four - chicken, gravy, mash and slaw - for about £9 against £34 at the counter.
Eating out stopped being the cheap option
In the UK, the US and Australia the same order costs meaningfully more than it did three years ago, and the delivery apps have quietly added a mark-up, a delivery fee and a service charge on top of it. None of that changed how the food is made. A Big Mac sauce is still eight minutes and a bowl; a peri-peri marinade is still a blender and a lemon.
So this is a reference for making it yourself: complete methods, explicit calculations, and honest limits where a home kitchen cannot match a commercial process.
Questions people ask about copycat cooking
What is a copycat recipe?
A recipe that reproduces a restaurant dish at home from scratch. It is not the company's own formula and it is not obtained from them. A useful version explains its ingredient and process choices and states where domestic equipment changes the result.
Are these the official recipes from the chains?
No, and no page here claims to be. Every recipe on this site is our own interpretation, developed independently. food.fast is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any chain we write about.
How much does it cost to make fast food at home?
It depends on the item and what is already in your cupboard. Every recipe carries its own batch figure, priced for the quantity used, beside a menu price where a comparable item exists. The costing page lists every assumption and exclusion.
Do the recipes work in grams as well as cups?
Yes. Every quantity switches between US cups and metric using an ingredient-specific density rather than a flat conversion, because a cup of flour is 125 g and a cup of mayonnaise is 224 g. Batches scale to 1X, 2X, 4X and 8X on the same page.
Is there anything a home kitchen genuinely cannot reproduce?
Three things, and the pages that run into them say so before you have bought ingredients: pressure frying, industrial par-frying, and the continuous whipped-air overrun of soft serve. Where a recipe cannot close the gap it explains what you can get to instead.
How are the recipes checked?
The publication gate checks ingredient units, scaling, density conversion, method completeness, nutrition arithmetic, links, images and duplicated prose. A page claims first-hand cooking or comparison only when a dated record supports it.